New Beijing–Helsinki Link Takes Flight in Spring 2026
China Southern Airlines is adding Finland to its map in 2026, confirming a new Beijing–Helsinki service as its first route to the country and the wider Nordic region. The debut flight is scheduled for 29 March 2026 between Beijing Daxing International Airport and Helsinki Airport. The airline already serves several major European cities, including Paris, Rome, Madrid, Amsterdam, Frankfurt and London.
The service will begin with three weekly rotations on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays until 20 June. After that date, the route becomes daily. Flights on the route will use Boeing 787-9 aircraft. The launch is welcomed at Helsinki Airport as a long-awaited reconnection with the Chinese capital.
Key details:
- Launch date: 29 March 2026
- Aircraft: Boeing 787-9
- Initial frequency: 3× weekly (Tue/Thu/Sun)
- From 20 June: Daily service
- Timing: Beijing–Helsinki at 18:35
- Helsinki–Beijing at 20:35
- Airports: Beijing Daxing ↔ Helsinki
We are pleased to see the highly demanded Beijing route re-opened after a five-year break. This flight will mark the first time China Southern Airlines is operating to Helsinki Airport and to the Nordics. The flight will serve both business and leisure travel in both directions.
Helsinki Airport offers short connections into Europe, making the new route practical for travellers heading towards Scandinavia, the Baltics and Central Europe. In the opposite direction, Beijing Daxing connects to a wide range of Asian destinations, including South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong and Bangladesh. This reconnects Finland with one of Asia’s largest air travel hubs after several years of limited options.
The move also widens access to two distinct regions. Helsinki offers design museums, archipelago ferries and train links to Tampere, Turku and Lapland’s outdoor areas. Beijing brings imperial landmarks such as the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace, as well as high-speed rail lines towards Tianjin, Shanghai and the Great Wall. Both cities function as gateways to broader national networks shaped around aviation and rail.
For travellers watching flight schedules, the addition of Beijing marks a shift in Helsinki’s long-haul portfolio after a period when Shanghai and Zhengzhou dominated China-bound operations. Daily frequencies planned for summer suggest confidence in demand in both directions. If the service beds in successfully, Finland may regain some of the long-haul connectivity that made its airport a useful bridge between Europe and Asia before the pandemic years.
